pam. 

AFRICA 


Vv  \  \  b  0  r\ ,  C.NaJ. 

’  -'-J - 


FROM  KRAAL 
TO  CHURCH  IN 
ZULULAND 

BY 

REV.  C.  W.  KILBON 

$ 


WOMAN’S  BOARD  OF  MISSIONS 

704  CONGREGATIONAL  HOUSE 
BOSTON 


Z 6*1 


L 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/fromkraaltochurcOOkilb 


SOME  HOWS  IN  SOUTH 
AFRICAN  MISSION  WORK 

I.  HOW  CONVERTS  FIRST  EVOLVE 
FROM  HEATHENISM 

African  heathenism  is  crystalized  animalism.  The 
missionary’s  calling  is  essentially  spiritual.  It  is  as  im¬ 
possible  for  a  heathen  man  to  apprehend  at  once  the 
missionary’s  purpose  as  it  is  for  him  to  understand  the 
strange  language  he  speaks.  It  is  just  as  difficult,  on  the 
other  hand,  for  the  missionary  to  appreciate  a  heathen, 
until  he  understands  his  heathenism.  They,  therefore, 
come  to  know  each  other  only  by  slow  degrees.  The  mis¬ 
sionary  patiently  applies  himself  to  the  imparting  of  truth 
by  every  available  means.  The  heathen  auditor,  ob¬ 
livious  to  the  spiritual  meaning  of  the  teaching,  is  studying 
the  man.  He  gradually  takes  in  that  which  his  compre¬ 
hension  most  easily  grasps,  such  as  the  apparel  he  wears, 
the  food  he  eats,  the  house  he  lives  in,  the  implements 
he  uses,  and  all  that  is  novel  and  new  that  appeals  to  his 
materialized  and  carnalized  understanding.  People  hear 
of  the  novelty  in  their  midst  and  flock  to  see  it  from  far 
and  near.  Interest  grows  until  some  feel  an  impulse  to 
become  like  the  missionary  —  not  in  spirit  but  in  ex¬ 
ternals.  Young  men  attach  themselves  to  his  establish¬ 
ment  and  become  horse  boys  or  gardeners,  and  girls 
become  kitchen  and  chamber  maids,  in  order  to  obtain 


the  material  means  needed  to  ape  the  missionary  in  his 
manner  of  living.  The  missionary  and  his  wife  turn  these 
helpers  into  classes  for  daily  instruction  in  knowledge  and 
righteousness.  Meantime  each  studies  the  other  and 
each  finds  much  to  learn  in  the  other.  After  a  period 
of  this  mutual  dissimilar  understanding-— it  may  be  two 
years  or  ten — the  once  heathen  man  begins  to  awaken 
to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  radical  difference  between  him¬ 
self  and  his  missionary  in  character.  His  own  nature, 
selfish  and  earthly,  contrasts  with  that  of  his  missionary, 
unselfish  and  dominated  by  an  unseen  influence — that 
of  the  God  and  Saviour  he  preaches.  Conscience 
awakens,  his  convictions  are  stirred,  and  he  begins  to 
ask  :  “  Sir,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  ”  1  hence  on¬ 

ward  the  process  is  much  the  same  as  in  any  Christian 
land,  only  slower,  by  reason  of  the  long-benighted  mir.d, 
the  unaccustomed  spiritual  activities  and  the  heathen 
environment. 

II.  HOW  EVANGELISM  SPREADS 

Converts  from  heathenism  naturally  gather  about  the 
missionary  in  homes  of  their  own  modeled  after  that  of 
the  missionary.  Friends  favorable  to  Christianity  join 
them,  and  a  community,  with  church  and  school,  is  thus 
formed.  This  is  called  a  Mission  Station.  Around  this 
station  preaching  places  are  located  wherever  preachers 
from  the  station  may  be  able  to  gather  congregations  on 


Sunday  or  even  on  a  week  day.  As  preaching  and 
teaching  go  hand  in  hand  a  preaching  place  naturally 
develops  a  week-day  school.  Both  these  services  may 
at  first  be  held  under  a  tree,  then  a  hut  be  assigned  to 
them,  and  later  an  upright  house  be  constructed  of 
wattled  sides,  plastered  outside  and  inside  with  mud, 
and  a  thatch  roof.  The  more  enterprising  or  larger 
communities  will  at  length  have  a  more  permanent  build¬ 
ing  of  corrugated  iron  or  of  brick.  Thus  a  preaching 
place  becomes  a  permanent  center  from  which  to 
evangelize  in  its  turn  the  surrounding  district. 

III.  HOW  CHURCHES  GROW 

As  “the  earth  yieldeth  fruit,”  so  churches  grow — 
“first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the 
ear.”  There  is  a  period  of  seed  sowing — long  and 
wearisome  in  some  cases,  then  appears  a  little  nucleus  of 
converts  in  whose  hearts  is  a  glimmering  of  spiritual 
understanding  and  faith.  1  hese  bind  themselves  to¬ 
gether  as  disciples  of  Christ  in  a  covenant  of  Christian 
love  and  service.  Being  neither  wise  nor  strong  them¬ 
selves  time  must  elapse  before  they  can  furnish  among 
themselves  suitable  pastors,  and  meantime  the  missionary 
shepherds  the  flock  with  the  aid  of  deacons.  From  time 
to  time  others  are  added  of  “those  that  are  being  saved.” 
The  first  ordination  in  the  Zulu  Mission  occurred  some 
thirty-five  years  after  the  missionaries  arrived-  Other 


ordinations  followed  until  fifteen  in  all  have  served  as 
pastors. 

1  he  churches  having  been  provided  with  pastors  the 
missionaries  become  general  supervisors,  endeavoring  to 
co-operate  with  the  pastors  in  the  internal  working  of  the 
church,  and  with  the  churches  in  their  relations  to  each 
other  and  to  the  unevangehzed. 

The  effort  to  build  up  these  churches,  formed  out  of 
the  crudest  material  to  begin  with,  that  they  may  grow 
“into  a  holy  temple  in  the  Lord,”  has  taxed  the  grace 
and  strength  of  the  missionaries,  filling  them  with  hopes 
and  anxieties  by  turns,  continually  presenting  problems 
desperately  difficult  until  they  often  cry  out:  “Who  is 
sufficient  for  these  things  ?  ” 

IV.  HOW  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCIES 
DEVELOP 

Education  goes  hand  in  hand  with  preaching.  While 
waiting  for  a  congregation  to  gather  at  a  given  preaching 
place  the  preacher  busies  himself  with  the  children  and 
the  primer.  Thus  a  preaching  place  soon  develops  a 
simple  primary  day  school  with  such  a  low  grade  teacher 
as  may  be  available  for  it.  A  mission  station  has  its 
more  stable  school  and  better  teacher.  In  time  a  central 
boarding  school  for  each  sex  becomes  necessary  in  order 
to  train  teachers,  and  a  theological  school  is  required  to 
prepare  evangelists  and  pastors.  Thus  a  system  of 


[4] 


education  comes  into  being  covering  these  four  grades, 
viz :  Kraal  schools,  station  schools,  normal  schools  and 
theological  school. 

Both  preaching  and  teaching  demand  printed  helps  in 
the  vernacular  -Scriptures,  hymn  books,  charts,  reading 
and  other  school  books,  and,  as  the  reading  community 
enlarges,  books  for  general  information,  newspapers,  etc. 
I  hese  requirements  are  gradually  met,  and  the  depart¬ 
ment  of  literature  becomes  a  powerful  and  far-reaching 
agency,  extending  in  all  directions  among  Zulu  speaking 
people  from  the  borders  of  Cape  Colony  to  the  shores 
of  Lake  Nyassa,  and  from  the  coast  to  half  way  across 
the  continent 

HOW  DIFFICULTIES  BRISTLE 

A  missionary  cannot  make  churches  to  order  at 
pleasure,  nor  are  they  ideal  churches  when  done,  how¬ 
ever  made.  The  process,  too,  abounds  in  trying 
problems  and  difficulties.  Here  are  some  met  with  in 
South  African  work  : 

The  missionary  must  always  be  looked  upon  as  a 
foreigner.  His  religion  is  regarded  by  the  heathen 
masses  as  a  custom  presumably  good  enough  for  the 
land  he  came  from  but  not  adapted  to  theirs.  He  must 
work  and  wait  patiently  for  the  sympathetic  reception  of 
his  message. 

The  conceptions  of  the  natives  are  all  materia!  and 


carnal.  1  hey  measure  values  by  tangible  and  degen¬ 
erate  standards.  Motives  of  expediency  and  policy  have 
habitually  controlled  their  conduct  for  ages.  How  can 
they  be  made  to  appreciate  spiritual  values  and  to  be  gov¬ 
erned  by  spiritual  motives — motives  that  act  from  within 
rather  than  from  without,  everywhere  and  always — in 
darkness  as  well  as  in  the  light,  when  alone  as  well  as  in 
the  presence  of  others  ?  The  first  converts  were  content 
to  imitate  outwardly  their  missionary  for  whom  they  had 
conceived  an  admiration  and  to  obey  him  as  loyally  as  they 
did  their  chief.  A  spiritual  motive  acting  from  within 
outward  means  a  new  creation.  When  this  essential 
principle  of  Christian  character  and  of  right  relations  to 
God  first  dawns  upon  the  native  it  comes  as  a  surprise — - 
as  something  he  has  never  known,  nor  thought  of,  before. 

Former  practices  or  heaihen  customs  contend  for 
recognition  in  the  church.  This  danger  is  met  in  every 
age  and  in  every  land  where  the  Gospel  enters,  as  all 
church  history  shows.  What  practices  may  be  allowed 
and  what  not  ?  1  he  missionary  must  discern  and  de¬ 

cide  — -  the  natives,  with  their  limited  experience  and 
biased  vision,  cannot.  They  have  neither  the  foresight 
to  detect,  nor  the  stamina  to  resist  insidious  tendencies 
that  will  work  spiritual  disaster  later.  The  missionary’s 
action  often  appears  arbitrary,  but  he  is  ever  solicitous  lest 
the  foundations  he  is  laying  will  reveal  flaws  as  the  spiritual 
structure  grows. 


Belief  in  witchcraft  stifles  church  discipline.  Sub¬ 
tle  evil  influences  are  appallingly  omnipresent  in  the  vision 
of  everybody  and  they  are  believed  to  be  at  the  com¬ 
mand  of  all  for  revengeful  ends.  No  one  dares  charge 
another  with  wrong  doing,  for  to  reveal  another’s  miscon¬ 
duct  would  be  to  threaten  society  with  quarrels,  disruption 
and  even  bloodshed.  Thus  some  gross  sin  may  exist  even 
in  the  church  for  a  long  time  unexposed  until  it  comes 
incidentally  to  the  knowledge  of  the  missionary  and  then 
the  burden  of  exposure  rests  upon  him.  According  to 
recognized  heathen  sentiment  the  one  who  reveals  a  mis¬ 
demeanor  is  more  blameworthy  than  the  culpirt  himself. 

Church  harmony  is  menaced  by  tribal  clanship. 
Two  or  more  tribes  are  likely  to  be  represented  in  the 
membership  of  a  given  church.  A  tribe  concerns  itself 
with  whatever  concerns  any  of  its  members.  Any  mis¬ 
understanding  between  members  of  different  tribes  be¬ 
comes  occasion  for  dispute  and  quarrel  between  the  tribes 
themselves.  Difficulty  between  church  members  belong¬ 
ing  to  different  tribes  threatens  division  in  the  church 
pretty  much  on  tribal  lines.  Cliques  in  the  church  at 
Corinth  quarreling  with  each  other  represent  in  a  way 
these  tribal  disturbances  in  a  South  African  church. 
These  make  the  missionary  sad  and  anxious  as  those 
made  the  apostle. 

Chiefs  often  obstruct  mission  progress.  The  chiefs 
are  autocratic  —  the  people  servilely  loyal.  The  opposi- 


lion  of  a  chief,  therefore  impedes  Gospel  work  in  his 
tribe.  Pioneer  missionaries  especially  experienced  the 
blighting  despotism  of  the  chiefs.  A  small  body  of  be¬ 
lievers  had  gathered  about  the  first  missionaries  in  Zulu- 
land  in  Dingan’s  time,  when  one  night  they  began 
mysteriously  to  disappear.  At  once  the  work  had  to  be 
abandoned.  In  Matabeland  the  London  Missionary 
Society  labored  for  nearly  or  quite  a  quarter  of  a  cen¬ 
tury  without  making  one  open  convert,  because  the 
tyrant  chief  held  the  spear  of  vengeance  over 
any  professed  convert.  Chiefs  still  rule  with 
autocratic  power,  but  in  a  greatly  modified  degree, 
because  of  the  entrance  among  them  from  without  of  lib¬ 
eral  and  popular  ideas. 

T he  presence  of  civilization  complicates  and  con¬ 
fuses  mission  work.  Lvil  as  well  as  good  comes  with 
civilization — vicious  men  and  vicious  influences  as  well  as 
good  men  and  good  influences.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
natives  all  English-speaking  people  are  one.  They 
speak  one  language  and  profess  one  religion.  It  is  not 
surprising  if  the  unfledged  native  at  first  regards  them  all 
as  representative  ideals  of  the  Christianity  that  the  mission¬ 
ary  preaches.  For  the  time  being  civilization  is  graded 
up  and  the  Gospel  is  graded  down  to  one  common  level. 
Thus  confusion  arises  in  the  mental  discernment  of  the 
bewildered  people.  Meantime  a  worse  result  happens. 
The  natives,  ever  ready  for  new  forms  of  animal  indul- 


gence,  catch  at  the  vices  attendant  upon  civilization  and 
add  them  to  their  own. 

Entire  self-control  in  the  churches  is  prematurely 
assumed.  The  missionaries  are  sad  and  solicitous  over 
the  self-confident  spirit  of  competency  to  go  alone.  The 
policy  of  the  missionaries  has  always  been  to  press  on  to 
the  natives  responsibilities  for  the  work  as  fast  as  they 
showed  themselves  able  to  assume  them,  gradually  doing 
less  themselves  and  inducing  the  natives  to  do  more  until 
the  latter  should  finally  wholly  support  and  control  their 
work.  It  has  all  along  been  an  occasion  for  deep  regret 
that  the  natives  did  not  respond  more  readily  to  this  plan 
and  co-operate  more  heartily  in  developing  this  spirit  of 
self-help.  But  the  course  followed  by  the  natives  accords 
with  their  own  habit  fixed  by  previous  heathen  training. 
They  must  either  lead  or  follow — while  the  missionary 
leads  they  must  follow,  and  when  they  become  leaders 
the  missionaries  must  follow.  The  process  of  gradually 
decreasing  leadership  on  the  part  of  one  and  increasing 
it  correspondingly  on  the  part  of  the  other  they  seemed 
unable  to  understand  or  adopt.  It  is  not,  therefore,  sur¬ 
prising,  although  it  is  saddening, to  have  the  churches  some¬ 
what  suddenly  insist,  as  they  did  a  few  years  ago,  on 
divorcing  themselves  from  missionary  control.  The 
missionaries  have  adapted  themselves  to  this  new  aspect 
and  are  exerting  their  influence  that  the  least  harm  and 
the  most  good  possible  may  result  from  it.  God  will 
guard  his  own. 


Government  restrictions  hamper  mission  exten- 
■ion.  The  attitude  of  the  government  is  easily  explained, 
even  if  not  wholly  justified  from  a  missionary  point  of 
view.  An  era  of  progress  has  dawned  upon  the  natives 
of  South  Africa.  The  native  asks :  Why  are  we  in 
leading-strings  unable  to  do  for  ourselves,  so  unlike  other 
races  ?  1  he  cry  is  raised,  Africa  for  Africans,  and  the 

result  is  a  determined  forward  movement  on  these  lines. 
It  shows  itself  conspicuously  in  what  is  known  as  the 
“  Ethiopian  ”  church,  a  body  that  broke  away  from 
white  missionary  leadership  a  few  years  ago  and  gathered 
accretions  wherever  it  could,  largely  from  ambitious  and 
discontented  spirits  in  all  mission  communities.  The 
disregard  of  former  missionary  ties  gave  missionaries 
greatest  pain  and  solicitude.  This  body  places  itself 
under  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
America.  The  spirit  of  determined  revolt  that  char¬ 
acterized  the  movement  in  the  religious  sphere  made  the 
governments  of  South  Africa  naturally  wary  of  its 
possible  political  trend.  Hence  the  determination  to 
check  all  independent  native  leadership  among  the 
people,  carrying  it  so  far  (in  Natal,  at  least)  as  to  forbid 
mission  extension,  except  where  there  is  a  resident  white 
missionary  to  conduct  it  personally.  The  regulation  is 
not  meant  to  oppose  the  Gospel  as  such,  but  only  the 
committing  of  responsibility  to  native  agents.  It  is  to  be 


feared,  however,  that  this  over-anxiety  of  the  government 
will  tend  to  promote  that  which  it  wishes  to  prevent.  It 
has  an  unsympathetic  look  to  the  natives.  Meantime 
mission  extension  in  Natal  is  almost  paralyzed.  The 
very  end  and  aim  of  foreign  mission  work, —  the  building 
up  of  a  self-managing,  self-propagating  native  church, — • 
is,  for  the  time  being,  checked. 

The  race  problem  is  baffling.  The  tension  between 
white  and  black  residents  in  South  Africa  grows.  The 
antagonism  can  only  be  relieved  by  a  policy  that  deals 
sympathetically  with  the  conditions  of  each  by  the  other. 
Meantime  the  missionary  is  in  a  vortex  between  the 
two — the  butt  of  both  by  turns.  He  desires  to  be  a 
just  and  considerate  helper  of  each,  but  to  show  any 
sympathy  with  the  one  draws  the  frowns  of  the  other. 
The  best  he  can  do,  he  fully  satisfies  neither,  and  he 
can  only  pursue  his  conscientious  way  with  calm  and 
patient  confidence  in  God  till  the  Prince  of  Peace  settles 
the  strife  of  hearts. 

It  would  be  easy  to  extend  still  further  this  long  list  of 
perplexities. 

VI.  HOW  THE  OUTLOOK  BROADENS 

All  South  Africa  is  astir.  The  invasion  of  the  white 
man  to  unearth  the  immense  and  varied  wealth  that  lies 
buried  beneath  the  surface,  and  in  other  ways  to  seek 
his  fortune,  has  awakened  the  natives  from  their  sleep  of 


ages.  They  come  flocking  to  the  mining  and  industrial 
centers,  established  by  the  white  man,  and  after  a  brief 
period  of  service  return  to  their  unenlightened  homes 
stored  full  of  new  and  novel  impressions  to  relate.  Here 
is  the  church’s  opportunity  to  evangelize  the  masses  by 
meeting  at  these  centers  the  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  natives  who  congregate  there,  and  giving 
them  the  Gospel  to  make  known  to  their  kindred  and 
acquaintances  in  numberless  and  distant  localities.  Form¬ 
erly  it  was  a  laborious  undertaking  to  visit  the  heathen 
from  kraal  to  kraal,  now  they  “fly  as  a  cloud  and  as  the 
doves  to  their  windows.”  God  thus  presents  to  us  a 
marvelous  and  inviting  opportunity  to  evangelize  Africa. 

VII.  HOW  THE  PAST  MAY  CONTRIBUTE 
TO  THE  FUTURE. 

The  African  Board  has  two  missions  in  South  Africa. 
These  two  missions  comprise  24  churches,  a  theological 
school,  5  boarding  schools,  with  numerous  primary 
schools  to  feed  them,  a  medical  department  in  each 
mission,  and  a  body  of  literature  in  the  native  language. 
These  agencies,  resulting  from  mission  effort  in  the  past, 
form  the  basis  for  a  broader  work  in  the  future.  We 
have  seen  the  conspicuous  alluring  opportunity,  and  here 
we  have  the  means  at  hand  with  which  to  improve  it. 
What  is  wanted  is  that  measure  of  interest  in  the  Amer¬ 
ican  churches  at  home  that  will  provide  men  and  money 


required  to  make  effective  this  equipment— a  base  that 
their  own  men,  money  and  prayers  have  built  up.  To 
stop  here  is  to  fail  to  reap  the  grand  results  of  past  toil. 
Other  workers  are  awake  to  this  opportunity  of  the  hour 
for  South  Africa,  and  have  established  agencies  at  these 
grand  vantage  posts.  To  none  is  the  call  louder  to 
evangelize  the  Banter-speaking  people,  massed  at  these 
civilized  centers,  than  to  the  churches  of  the  American 
Board  who  have  these  two  bases  and  this  equipment  on 
the  spot.  The  small  beginning  already  made  at  Johan¬ 
nesburg,  and  just  now  also  at  Beira,  have  unlimited 
chance  for  expansion.  Let  such  prayers  be  offered  as 
mean,  “Lord,  here  is  my  purse,  and  here  am  I,”  in 
order  that  the  past  work  of  the  Board  in  South  Africa 
may  have  its  fitting  crown  in  the  gloriously  grand  results 
that  are  possible,  by  God’s  blessing,  through  the  use  of 
its  present  means  and  opportunities  there. 


[13] 


The  Taylor  Press,  2  7  Beach  Street,  Boston 


